PLEASE POST YOUR GOOD DOCTOR HERE :) :) :)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Vicki Prince (904-262-7211) on San Jose Blvd is the only dr. in Jacksonville that has helped me in 7 years. She's knowledgeable about CFS and FM and is willing to prescribe pain meds and sleep meds. Accepts most insurances. I do not recommend any of her PA's; they're not nearly as good as she is.

You said you're so tired of having to go to DRs that don't take any insurance!!

On the bright side, our CFIDS makes us strong advocates.

I have an corneal dystrophy called Keratoconus (KC) & in 2002, I was legally blind & facing a corneal transplant. Instead, I luckly got "Sclera lens". They allow me to see (although letters keep wiggling), but cost me $5,000 (now they are $20,000). The KC drs were all "woe is me! insurance won't cover lens for KC". They wouldn't even give me a receipt w/ the DX codes that I could file w/ my insurance, because "why even bother!" It was like pulling teeth, they were so convinced it was useless.

I wrote a letter to the my insurance, w/ all kinds of documentation (like I do when I write advocacy letters to the government/media) to support my case that these "scleras" were not contact lens to look good, but corneal protheses; & they corrected the vision in both my eyes for 1/2 the price of a corneal transplant on one eye.

The insurance agreed immediately & refunded 80% of the cost. I was the 1st one ever to get their "scleras" covered. The eye doctors took my letter & documents to make samples for others & changed the name from "sclera lens" to "sclera corneal prothesis" & now all insurances cover these lens.

It was so easy, compared to what I've had to do to get my CFS properly taken care of. W/ CFS I have to shake my whole body, w/ this I barely wiggled my little pinky to fix something that had drs treating a "blinding" disease all in despair.

It tells me that the powers that be are really making it hard to get CFS researched, adequately treated/cared for, but the minute they do, we are going to be so much more powerful than any healthy person.

The main doctor is Dr. Chonghao Zhao, who is awesome overall for treating the chronic pain and headaches. He is great with nerve blocks and is very familiar with Oriental Medicine, which is nice too. He does prescribe narcotic pain medication, if it is working for the patient, and if it has not been working, he is excellent in working to get the patient off the narcotics with minimal withdrawals. This has been great for me, after being on narcotics for a few years which have succeeded only in making my stomach worse. Physical withdrawal symptoms are severe for me, so he helped me develop a plan to drop my med by .5 mg per week, which has eliminated all withdrawal symptoms. Also, even though this is not his area, he did send me for tests on possible viral infections at my request. I brought him a list of tests I wanted done, and he authorized them, although he wasn't sure if all were blood tests or not. If any come back positive, he has stated that he will refer me to an Infectious Disease doctor.

The other doctor working in this office is Bruce Zeng, who handles acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. He is great also, although not covered by my insurance. The office did, however, allow me to make payments toward the cost of visits and herbal medicine, although typically requiring at least $100 per month payments.

I also see a psychotherapist in this office - Alan Gordon. He is good to talk to, has some ideas on how to treat some symptoms on our own alternatively, and has been kind enough to allow me to do my appointments over the phone with him, since I have been having difficulty driving myself over there lately.

I am new to this group. I live on the west side in Madison, WI, and I've been referred to the pain clinic by my primary doctor. I am in the UW Health system, so I have limited choices for a specialist, but I am OK with who i see for the fibro. My primary doc is another story.

I'd like to get a different one, but I want the person to familiar with FMS and headaches. Is there anyone out there who can recommend someone for primary care in my area?

Hi, I am new here, first post also. I have a great caring and understanding doctor, who tries to help anyway he can. I have been going to him 24 or 25 years. I have no health insurance and he helps anyway he can with the cost, ( even by giving me samples from the office when he can)
He is an internal doctor. He takes the time to undestand and show comcern for the pain and illnesses you may have.I have alot, Interstital Cystitis, Degenrative disc disease in my neck and a nerve problem on right side of body ( caused they think from a car accident long time ago. Also one form of glacoma.I just found out recently I have all the signs of Fibro and IBS. and I also have osteo -arthities ( can" spell) sinus and allergy problems. wow! My doctor trys everything to help all these problems and keep them under control.accept the eye problem is with a different doctor.Eye specialist for that. I live in daily pain, some days are good and some are terrible. My pain and muscle relaxers help me. I can't sleep well at night, use nerve pill and anti-depressent at night to help.I don't like taking all the meds, but I would not have the quality of life I have now without them. I hope everyone can find a good doctor to understand their diseases and problems. It sure helps.

He has helped me over 10 years. He recently opened a fibro clinic that has all the perks of a spa (Birk GroveLife Centre, 5150 Village Sq. Drive, Paducah, KY 42001 270 415-9575 www.birkgrove.com ).

Only women are accepted and all the people who work there are women. It includes a nurse practitioner (best listener I have ever encountered, even better than Dr. Romellman and he is outstanding!, a physical therapist and physical therapy assistant, 2 massage therapists (unbelievably talented with their hands, an aromatherapist who does individual sittings with clients, a life coach, nutritionist and emotional wellness program. In addition they have programs of interest to people with fibromyalgia (ex: time management and relaxation exercises.) Chair yoga is offered to help stretching. They also host a fibromyalgia support group open to the public.

Obviously I can't say good enough about this new concept for fibro - a one stop area for our needs. I am trying to convince them they need #1, a water feature (heated pool exercise) #2. acupuncturist - never tried it but want to, #3. biofeedback to try to manage pain.

Back to the spa atmosphere: they off a glass of hot or cold ice tea as soon as you arrive and have a heated neck or back pad while you sit in the waiting room (make sure you arrive early!!) Finally, they have a "relaxation room" to unwind with low lights, soft chairs and magazines. Either zone out or I've even drifted off to a short nap that felt so good!

Here is a fair Doctor in Tullahoma Tn. She is one that
will not treat you as if you are crazy. Which has happened to me so many times I began to hate doctors. She will prescribe some pain meds anyway. But still not half what I need to get throught the day. She gives me a 7.5mg every 12 hrs. on top of antidepressant, muscle relaxer, antiinflamitory and vitmins. All my scripts are third rate
meds. But they are better than any of the other doctors I have been to.

Henson Medical
622 Wilson Ave.
Tullahoma Tn. 37388

I had gone to 4-5 other doctors two rheumatologist. One in Nashville Tn at Vanderbuilt. All she did was hurt me. even with me telling her to stop. My husband had to help me out of the building to the truck she caused so much more pain.
They other rhumatologist was in Hunstville Al. He just treated me badly and ran a lot of test. He acted as if there was nothing wrong with me it was all in my head and gave me a bunch of antipsychotic drug. Which I was not about to take.
The others were the same as these. I have found that finding a doctor that thinks I am not crazy is a blessing in its self. It is sad to be treated that way as you all know I am sure. So many still do not believe Fibro or CFS are real. GOD BLESS

I was trying to find a Dr. in Ar , as we are moving in a month. After a couple min. my brain was fried. So, I copied and pasted most of the list. I will try to finish it later. Please feel free to copy and add any Dr's I may have missed. I just thought it might be easier if we had a running list as well.
Hope I don't offend.
Theresa
Dr. Forest Tennant 1195 S Sunset Ave West Covina, CA 626-
Stephen C. Seltzer Albemarle Medical Services 105 Yadkin St # 301 Albemarle, NC 28001 (704) 982-9144
Dr Mark Cervi Carolina Internal Medicine 2460-a Emerald Place Greenville, NC 27834 Couldn't find his phone number on the Internet

I found a doctor who, so far, seems to be great. He's a little reserved as far as personality goes, but he is very knowledgeable and sympathetic. He's not over-ready to prescribe pain killers, but I think that when other methods fail, he will be forthcoming with the magic pills.

I read in someone's message about a good dr (but he doesn't take insurance) in Santa Rosa.

SR is too far away from Clearlake CA to get there by bus. I do not drive.

Even if someone else does the driving there's the pesky fact that hours of travel impact the d'ds to where the next few days are spent in bed and wondering if the still-unemptied boxes from a recent move will ever be emptied.

So. It's a tall order, I know that, but I need a decent and listening dr in Lake County who accepts MediCare/MedicAid.

It seems 98% of the drs here are in clinics so they do accept M/M. Accepting the insurance doesn't mean they know squat about Fibro/ME.
The clinics are all run by practitioners of a certain religion.
A pain patient has to sign onto and abide by The Rules of a thing called Pain Patient Protocol.
For instance one of the rules has to do with not changing pharmacies without permission. Who do these people think they are, that they may dictate which pharm a person uses?
If I were a Pain Patient at a clinic I'd have to ask dr if it was alright with him, if I want to change from current pharmacy to one that's nearly right next door, now that I've moved. And dr is allowed to withhold permission! HUH??

My current guy does have his own office but he seems to think the only thing to do is complain about the fact I can't use an ever-growing list of medications.

He recently decided out of the blue that I'm bipolar. Gave me a sample pack of some stuff called Zyprexa. He didn't want to hear about how FDA stepped up a while back and told the truth about Zyprexa.
Against slightly better judgment I tried the pills. Two days later I had no idea what year it is and thought I was in San Francisco from which I moved in 1979.

If Zyprexa is the fixit for the bipolarity I do not think I have, I'd rather have the illness.

Current dr also "forgets" little facts that are in that file he doesn't read. He's tried to give me anti-d's, Ritalin, things that are on my Allergy List and the latest whizzer is that I'm supposed to go to labs to have tests run.
Tests that require fasting.
I'm hypoglycemic. I eat something each 3 to 4 hours or wind up on the floor. He doesn't believe I have awakened in fullblown dizzy, sweaty, shaky, I have to eat NOW and made it to the kitchen to fix something fast...only to crash to the floor before I can get whatever-it-is stuffed into my face.

Please forgive the interspersed rant. It's just that I thought this guy went to med school and it shouldn't be up to the patient to educate him.

So. If anyone on this board lives in Lake County and knows of a good dr who accepts Medicare/MedicAid and doesn't treat all Fibro/ME as if we were identical gingerbread cookies, PLEASE put up the name.
Thanks in advance.

I'll try to remember to attempt getting back here. The board's sort of confusing...

I saw Dr. Far for about a year and a half until my ins changed. She had no problem prescribing my Oxycontin and Vicodin once she was able to ascertain I am not an addicted drug-seeker. She also did trigger point injections during my regular appt's for my neck and upper back pain, and out-patient steroid and nerve block injections for my low back problems.

Dr. Far is a young doctor who is really caring. She is very friendly and has a great sense of humor. I don't know how knowledgable she is on fibromyalgia, but I do know she will take you and your pain seriously. My insurance changed so I had to stop seeing her. I miss her, but I guess I'm lucky I had to see a whole new set of doctors because that is what led to my FM diagnosis.

Oh, Dr. Far is affiliated with Cedars-Siniai hospital where they have a fantastic Fibromyalgia program through physical therapy. I actually know the therapist in charge of the program personally, and she is really smart and knowledgable. You have to be motivated to work with her because she will push you.

Also, Cedars-Sinai has a charity program to help with the bills if you qualify. With surgery and all my med bills I owed upwards of $25,000 after my insurance paid their portion. I don't have any income at this time, so billing told me I could apply to be a charity case. The application consisted of a short couple of forms and copies of my most recent bank statement, and a personal letter explaning my situation.

They quickly accepted me and forgave all my debt at the hospital and with all the different doctors I saw who were affiliated with Cedars-Sinai. I'm actually able to get pre-certifed treatment there through 02/2009, but I have Kaiser now and feel I would be taking advantage of their good will. I would rather that other people who need it have the program available to them, as well, because they do have limits to the total $$$ they can forgive as a whole.

Dr. Morris Papernik is listed in one of the previous messages as in Chicago, IL at Rush, but he has moved to Hartford Hospital in Conn. He is a wonderful doctor. I saw him for approximately 10 years. He's an internist, but specializes in CFS and Fibromyalgia. The earlier message was correct in that he is not into alternative medicine, but he is VERY nice and really good at helping people. I miss him terribly! I really didn't know how good I had it. It's really somewhat devastating. Anyway, if you live near Hartford I hope this helps!

Doxy, I just went thru this whole post and didn't see many for Ohio other than Cin. area and one in North Canton. Do you know of any others in Ohio, or did I miss them when I went thru all 13 pages? Thanks

This man saved my sanity and my life back in 1993 when he diagnosed me with CFS and guided my treatment! Very thorough in his assessment and diagnostics. He has personal experience treating his own CFS. Continues to do ongoing research into causation and treatment. Focused on role of Epstein Barre virus in CFS. Impact on cardio-vascular functioning.

Excellent with differential diagnosis of many conditions/symptoms which are denied, minimized or ignored by other doctors.

I have lots of Docs, a Family Practitioner, Gastro, Pain Mgmt specialist, etc..
I don't like any of them.
None of them seem to care very much. My Fam doc is ok, but I don't think he specializes in chronic pain, fibro, etc...
Any Ideas???